SCRANTON, Pa. — Outside the front doors of the Lackawanna County Children's Library sits a brown and black bench.
A fitting memorial to the life and career of "Miss Janie" Lawless.
"She actually trained me when I first started here, um almost eight years ago," said Library employee Angela Warner.
She says Lawless devoted more than two decades of her life to the children who stepped foot inside the library along Vine Street.
After she passed away unexpectedly this summer, Lawless's coworkers knew exactly how to honor her life and legacy.
"Janie would say, you know, we really need a bench out there. We really need a nice place to sit," said Warner. Everybody could enjoy it. We could all use it. And so, when I was approached by the director of the Scranton Public Library, asking for a way that we could honor her and memorialize her. I said, could we please have a bench? It would make her really happy."
Along with the two new benches, Mayor Paige Cognetti also presented library staff with a proclamation honoring Lawless's work, a career that impacted Cognetti's family as well.
"We started bringing our oldest daughter here a few years ago for story time," said Cognetti. "Miss Jenna, who's here today and Miss Janie were always there, and we started to form a relationship with them, Miss Janie knitted a blanket for Brooke when she was born last year, and it was just very dear to our family. So, it was a shock when she passed away. And so, a real honor for me personally, our family to be able to be here for this dedication of the bench."
Even after her passing, staff say Lawless's name will be a part of the library system, as children and adults take a seat on her bench.
"I am honored, and I know Janie would be honored that she had left her memory here," said coworker Jenna O'Malley. "Everybody. She'd be so thankful. I am so thankful."